Noticias YPARD

Four young professionals; one passion: agriculture

They travelled from different parts of the world to come tell their story at the International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s headquarter. Josine, Alpha, Nawsheen and Rahul, are four passionate young agriculturists. Yet, their projects are completely different from each other.

Noticias destacadas

Youths Affirm Agriculture As Economic Empowerment Tool

09 Dic 2016

The agro-allied industrialization of the African continent cannot materialize without the involvement of the youths because they have the right drive and energy, participants at a Tuesday session of the 2016 African Economic Conference that focused on youth entrepreneurship in agriculture said.

"I say and I hope you join me to say that agribusiness is not the future. It is the now," said Oyin Asaaju, a young Nigerian who is excited about agribusiness.

Today, my activities have created jobs for young people interested in livestock development, encouraged many farmers already frustrated with inadequate productivity, empowered women in the livestock value chain and have contributed immensely to the rapid multiplication of livestock and sustainability of livestock value chain in Nigeria and West Africa.

I believe that agriculture was meant to be my destiny and I am grateful for being inspired to pursue a career in science. If I had to choose all over again, I would without a doubt and a second thought choose agriculture. I love being an agronomist. It gives me enormous sense of job satisfaction and achievement.

Because of the universal reach of agriculture, I believe my career in it has, and will continue to have, a truly positive impact on the global community. #IamAg, I am involved in agriculture and surrounded by it. #AreYouAg too?

When I look back, I realise that the job I am doing today did not exist when I was a child or at secondary school. I just followed by heart and passion, and did what I feel happy doing. Therefore, my advice to someone interested in my career is to first of all love what you do.

My advice to be successful in an agricultural career is to not only focus on passing the exams and finishing all your tasks. Tomorrow you will be the one who will feed the people and you must know how to produce healthy food. Your worth will only be equal to what you know.

If you are looking for a job that gives you real job satisfaction, inner peace and a relationship with nature then I invite you to study agriculture. Agriculture is a noble profession because it was man’s first occupation and remains critical to the survival of mankind.

I think the reason more young people aren’t interested in an agricultural career is the lack of promotion. Agriculture has been left behind. In my country, every year universities are offering more office type careers, so young people are pursuing those. It is down to us, those that work in farming, to share our experience and tell how much we love to work in agriculture.

Today, I am agricultural economist, an agricultural extension officer and an agricultural communicator not only for YPARD Nigeria but for agriculture.You too can choose your agricultural path and become the best and that could turn out to be an inspiration for someone out there.